To achieve, on the vast stage of life, the special grace that allows the Artist to transcend his or her ordinary condition seems to me to be the beginning of freedom, the first step on the road to fulfilment.”
-Louise Aubut
Daughter of the Wind and Acadie
Monique LeBlanc, Director Jacques Turgeon, Producer
As executive producer of the NFB's Studio Acadie and Ontario and West Studio as well as executive producer responsible for Quebec regional production, Jacques Turgeon covers a vast territory on behalf of the NFB's French Program. His recent credits include serving as project leader on Jean François Pouliot's Facing Champlain, A Work in 3 Dimensions, a groundbreaking 3D stereoscopic cinema experience created for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City; and Claude Guilmain's Front Lines, a tribute to Canadian combatants in the First World War, created for the 90th anniversary of the Armistice. Jacques has extensive experience in film production and management, having worked in the film and television industry since 1978.
Édith Butler
2009 Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Popular Music)
Singer/songwriter and folklorist
Édith Butler is one of the first artists to promote Acadian culture in Canada and around the world. For over 40 years this warm and generous performer has celebrated her rich heritage in story and song, from rollicking down-home party music to haunting laments, and has achieved star status both at home and abroad.
Édith Butler was born in 1942 in Paquetville, New Brunswick. Performing is in her blood, she says: her mother plays piano and sings, and her father was an accomplished storyteller. Following her first public appearance—at a cultural evening at Collège Notre-Dame d’Acadie—she launched her singing career on Radio-Canada Moncton, performing mainly traditional material. In 1962 she joined CBC TV Halifax’s Singalong Jubilee, an informal country/folk program. After completing an ethnography degree at Laval University in Quebec City in 1969, she travelled to Osaka, Japan, where she gave 500 performances at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo ’70.
Since then she has appeared at major cultural venues in Canada, the USA, and Europe, including the Olympia in Paris. In November 2008 she launched a farewell tour of the Francophonie.
She has recorded over 27 albums. Her best-known songs include “Avant d'être dépaysée,” “Marie Caissie,” “L’Acadie s’marie,” “Je vous aime, ma vie recommence,” “L’hymne à l’espoir,” and “Un million de fois je t’aime.” In 2007 her song “Paquetville” was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Édith Butler is an Officer of the Order of Canada (1975), Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite de la République française (1999), and Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade (1978). Other awards and honours include Canadian Heritage Prix Montfort (2004); Dr. Helen Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award (1997); honorary Indian princess of the Abenaki Nation; three Félix awards; and three honorary doctorates. On July 2, 2009 she will appear in a series of Canadian postage stamps honouring Canada’s top recording artists.